Medium Grant Scheme

The scheme is now closed for applications.

The Medium Grant Scheme fund aims to support local organisations to create new jobs, learning, training, and educational programmes through the means of arts, culture, innovation, public realm and creative placemaking in Hackney, Newham, Waltham Forest and Tower Hamlets.

The scheme is part of the Westfield East Bank Creative Futures Fund, an ambitious five-year programme that aims to invest £10 million into the local communities of Newham, Tower Hamlets, Hackney and Waltham Forest, and we are now pleased to be opening Year 2.

Year 2 has been designed with evaluation and feedback from Year 1 grantees to ensure that the process is accessible, transparent and allows applicants to make informed decisions, follow a simple applications process and gain additional support when needed.

The scheme will fund projects that focus on one or more of the following funding themes:

Employment opportunities

• Will your project provide employment opportunities for local people, including access to paid work experience / internships, access to apprenticeships or gaining access to jobs?

Learning opportunities

• Will your project provide ladders of opportunity through learning and training opportunities for local people, including accessing lifelong learning opportunities from early learning, schools through to late career and post retirement and/or will the project offer bespoke career and higher education path support, training and secondments?

Young people

• Will your project have a young person led approach with particular provision for local young people to access skills development opportunities, careers workshops and related learning and/or one to one coaching and mentoring?

Business and entrepreneur support

• Will your project provide local people with the opportunity to have business and/or entrepreneur support including freelance, business and entrepreneur set up, development and training?

The second round will open for applications on 30 September 2021 and will close on 3 December.

In Year 2, the Medium Grant Scheme pot is £330,000 and will award 20-24 grants.

In March 2021, we awarded 11 projects with a total of £160,000, for projects that work with the most marginalised members of East London’s communities, from a catering programme for disabled and deaf/hard of hearing women in Newham (Deafroots) to a theatre careers programme for school leavers in Tower Hamlets (Half Moon Young People’s Theatre) and from an employability programme for Bangladeshi and Somali women in Tower Hamlets (Streets of Growth) to an entrepreneur programme for vulnerable adults in Hackney (Shared Enterprise CIC).

The scheme is now closed for applications.

The online application portal opened on 30 September and closed on 3 December 2021.

Please make sure to read our Guidance Notes before applying.

Grants will be awarded in January 2022.

Projects will start in March to April 2022

For help and advice, sign up to our Capacity Building Programme events, run in partnership with Lisa Stepanovic.

Additional criteria:

• If you are a school applying you must evidence that the funding applied for will not be for core school day/ curriculum activity
• If you are applying for the maximum fund, you must evidence why the full amount is needed and where it will be used.
• If you have previously been awarded funding from the Westfield East Bank Creative Futures Fund or any other Foundation grant programme, you are still welcome to apply for Year 2 funds. However, you must be clear if this application is for a new project or an extension to the already funded project. Need for the new project or additional funding must be evidenced by provision of an impact report from the previous project.

Contact Details and Access Support

For any initial programme queries or to arrange a call please email:

Grants@future.london

This includes access support for applying.

For any queries regarding the capacity building programme and workshops please email:

Capacitybuilding.ffl@outlook.com